Just to elaborate why the current stab/slash dichotomy isn't exactly my cup of tea:

Whenever you design an action game you're essentially trading time resources for space resources. Sometimes a lot of games will throw in third resources like SUPER METER or AMMO which is fine, but they're not as tangible, so you always have to be careful from adding resources. In your game you can break it down into time, X, Y, and a bunch of hitboxes as your resources. When you added the swing the attack it only felt like it changed your hitbox (from the skinny stab to the wide arc) but then added a new resource out of nowhere. Of course, this resource is affected by time, but it's really slow to recharge, and because players need to deal w/ things immediately, they'll usually ignore it.

If you really want to keep with this mana/energy/stamina thing you could probably determine the rate at which you want the player to really engage with it and set that to the recovery rate. Specifically what is the amount of time you want the player to go from minimum combat abilities (0 energy) to maximum combat abilities (max energy)? And then how many times do you want the player to be able to do each skill before they are back to being minimally efficient (1, 2, 10, 100?) is how you set up the energy costs.

Yeah the idea there... is you want to figure out what core of attacks are meant to define your character controller (you do these more than 50 % of the time). Once you know what kind of attacks your CC is meant to favor, you can design your enemies around the expectation that the player will use those more often than not, and how they will have to approach the enemies based on that. For us, that core is first the thrust attack, and to a lesser extent the arc swipe, then everything else at 40% of the time or less. The swipe, all things being equal, is the tactically stronger move in most situations, so it should be balanced with the thrust with other features that lead to the player considering it a resource to be used at the right moment, rather than all moments. The two balancing features we have so far are the fact that it has a short pause while it "charges", and that it consumes the stamina / mana-like resource. A few folks have said they want it to do more damage too, but I don't think these folks are realizing how many powerful advantages it has at once: it attacks around both corners at once; it allows the player to attack things they don't have to be aligned with; it attacks in a very wide area, doing potential damage to many possible enemies.

I feel like the current cost to use the move is justified, based on these advantages. Perhaps the attack art can be spruced up a bit to indicate it is a special "fancy" move to a greater extent, that is not expected to be used at all times. More playtesting with future content will be required to balance everything though.

Lol. Keep in mind this gif was a joke, mainly.

We for sure do not intend to have a room with 50 bats in it, lol. Mainly the gif is meant to illustrate that the crowd control techniques the player has available to them are quite up to the absurd task.

I disagree with the premise that 8-way movement is needed. In fact, it hampers the design intentions we have. The current enemy design assumes certain abilities and weaknesses in the character controller. The world is designed in such a way that 4way compliments the way the environment is built. The inability of the player to move toward an enemy they are aligned with except in a straight line toward them is one of the cornerstones of how they interact with the enemies currently.

In terms of whether we intend to make a zelda-like, lttp-like, etc:

I'd say while those are labels that are useful in allowing players to classify the work, we are not using them as rubrics. We very much do not intend to recreate LTTP. While it is a strong game, with many good techniques, probably the biggest influence lttp had for this title is the dungeon tileset, since LTTP's system is so versatile; so while attempting to gain these same advantages, I think the tileset might look a bit too close. We will probably change the tileset a bit more to cancel that association in people's minds.

I think it is fine for the bats to have more freedom of motion than the player in this room. Getting the player dealing with constraints is a major pillar of level design.

We have allowed players to preview a build of the game with 8way motion in the past, and so far they have actually rejected it (the same people who have demanded it in some cases even). In a way, when people argue this idea, I think they are really arguing we should be making a different game than we actually are, because it is really that much of a change. I can't say we won't possibly shift to 8way in the future, but it would be a radical redesign of everything.

A lot of folks said 4 bats is too many for this room... but then why can I fight 50, lol? The crowd-control attacks are more effective than you might think they are!

What if I don't feel like sharing my email with you and I want to play the demo? Am I just out of luck?

The emails are used for a milestone newsletter (and you can opt out and unsubscribe when you receive the link or any message); we don't use them for any other purpose.

If you don't wanna do that, I can send you the link, lol.

[The Public Demo is Out And Directly Available from Landing Page!]

The Public Demo is Out And Directly Available from Landing Page!


You can hop on our landing page now, and subscribers will get the link for the latest updated build for each platform! These will always be up to date, so when a new one is out, you can get it from the same place!

https://www.aloftstudio.com/hazelnutbastille


You can preview the demo through a couple feature letsplays:

---------------------------

Also, You can checkout Billy D's article posted to OneAngryGamer:

http://www.oneangrygamer.net/2017/06/hazelnut-bastille-legend-of-zelda-inspired-adventure-game-gets-free-demo/31996/

[Changelog for current build (out soon):]

Changelog for current build (out soon):


Done 5.27

-Pause
   -Added a new pause menu. Pressing esc or start will pause the game. The player has the option to resume play, save game, or quit game.
   -Extended pause to affect sound effects too.

-Title
   -Changed select sounds.
   -The submit input (set to same as attack button) now works for start also.
   -Added a second menu after pressing start. Shows a black screen with "New Game" and "Continue" (if the player has a save file).

-Save
   -The player can now save the game.
   -Load save at the title after passing the start screen,
   -Added Save Game to Continue Menu (after death) and pause menu ("Press escape).
   -Added save file encryption.

-Player
        -Added movement while spinning
        -Corrected issue where moving while spinning through a door confused the room transit script (doh)

-Boss
   - Nodes turn off when hp reaches 0 and stay off. May fix electrical beam issue?
   - Ajusted death animation trigger. Should play as soon as hp reaches 0, non shock.
   - Fixed an issue where the first lightning node would turn on for a few frames at the start of the jump.

-MiniBoss
   - Changed phase2 charged animation to flash instead of being shocked. Hitting the shell now closes the shell (show its not hittable anymore)
   - Shells now bounce off the player.


-Lasers:
   - Changed damage of all lasers to 1/2 heart.

- Ajusted flying enemy grid correction. Recovers faster. Might require more ajustment.
- Added 8 way movement toggle on player controller.
- Added sound events with half secret jingle to 4 buttons in big room.

[Just Crossed 500 subscribers!]

Just Crossed 500 subscribers!

Thanks for the support everyone!

I don't understand how the title has anything to do with the game. I've been following this for at least a week. Does the character go to a Bastille? Is Hazelnut part of their name? I haven't seen the word before or know the meaning of Bastille and I don't feel like looking it up.   

lol.

Yeah, as TitoOliveira explained, the term Bastille has generalized to mean "fortress" now. If you get slightly less general, you get to prison-fortress, especially with the implication of wrongful imprisonment. There are several senses in which the island itself, and the citadel it houses are various kinds of prisons.

Then there is of course the historic event, the storming of the Bastille, which is the main reason we have the word in our English vocabulary. There is an analogous event to this somewhere in the pages of the story.

Hazelnut trees, while very common across varied climates, are principally known for being common in the eastern Mediterranean. They are iconic of that region even. You can find tons of them in Turkey, Greece, and Lebanon (as well as Italy). That is the rough geographic location the island in our story corresponds to. It belongs to a fictional world with fictional geographies, but land and cultures are modeled on this area.

The two words together also have a funny sort of dissonance. Most people get positive images from the word "hazelnut", and negative emotions about the Bastille (or at least heroic images). This dissonance is meant to evoke the dissonance between the setting and the tense events of the story, as well as internal dissonances in the heroine.

Some cute Bramble tiles:

The New swipe attack motion in use:

[Beta Changelog:]

Beta Changelog:

Many Demo Beta players responded that they wanted to see the combat overhauled a bit. Common complaints were that that the rooms were a bit too busy; they felt frustrated that they were unable to avoid enemies based on the relative speed of the many enemies to the player; they were frustrated by what felt like too many near misses with the sword; they felt they were missing an attack to deal with enemies in an arc pattern; they wanted a larger deadzone for joysticks on certain controllers; and they felt the 4-way movement pattern was restricting.

We made a number of changes geared specifically at addressing these combat-related complaints, including adding several new forms of attack. We chose to continue with 4-way movement patterns. Our reasoning there is that many mechanics in the game are built around the assumption of 4-way movement, and so changing to 8-way would require a redesign of the game on a fundamental level. We feel a lot of the frustration some players felt with this movement scheme may have been the result of a couple game situations being somewhat unfair (or at least overly challenging for a new player), and with these situations massaged down, players may be more open to this design choice. It comes down to the sorts of room layouts, enemy designs, and combat techniques we wold like to explore in the game. The entire world the player exists in must be fundamentally different based on this choice. The game world we have built is designed to accommodate and challenge a player that moves in 4 directions.

The arc swipe technique is a fun addition to the game, but of course it must be balanced with a use cost, since otherwise it would negate the intended challenge of certain aspects of the design.

Control:
   -Increased axis dead zone from 0.3 to 0.4 (counters over sensitivity on the Xbox One contoller    which can cause the
         player to move the wrong directions when the stick is nearly centered)
   -Increased delay frames from 2 to 4. This is to allow the player to “tap turn”- turn their character
   in place to face an enemy on an adjacent tile, without adding too much stiffness to the input

Combat:   
   -Reduced bat health to 1.
   -Reduced red chitin health from 5 to 4. Reduced tiles to move from 8 to 7
   -Reduced blue chitin tiles to move from 4 to 3
   -Adjusted weapon colliders. Fixed horizontal offset issue and increased width from 8 to 10
   -Removed extra invincablity for snail/slug stun
   -Added swipe attack (interact button) for attacking several enemies at once in an arc
   -Added spin attack (right shoulder for now)
   -Reduced numbers of some enemies in certain rooms to be a bit gentler
   -Some enemies now have slower movement (the jelly was a bit hard to hit)
   -Widened the hitbox for several enemies to make hit detection slightly more forgiving (and more    
         accurate in some cases)
   -Now allows attacking stacked enemies
   
   -Adjusted the spawn spaces of a couple rooms to disallow the enemies from reaching the player too soon

Puzzles:
   -Changed scripting so that switches of type beam/lightning that use timer, hitting switch resets timer. So as long as
         beam/lightning is hitting it the switch will stay on. Use duration for how long the switch stays on once the
         beam/lightning stops. Should fix the sound issue too
   -Fixed an issue with moving blocks being blocked by the top part of the sprite for the spawned    block

Collision:
   -Added diagonal colliders for doors. Makes it easier to enter. Added them to all horizontal doors in    dungeon
   -Adjusted knockback issue related to stairs; shouldn't be able to get past water/stairs

Boss:
   -Fixed white flash on last hit persisting longer than it should
   -Adjusted bubble bomb depth. Stays above all objects for first half
   -Adjust timed bubble depth when first spawned
   -Reduced lightning switch timer.
   -Medusa now waits till the player has entered the room before moving, to avoid unfair early hit

General:
   -Fixed issue where completing game locks input
   -Added extra text to manifestor plate to clearly explain the block removal feature it has



Known issues which will soon be resolved:

Combat:
   -A couple enemies can temporarily slowdown due to a glitch

Display:
   -Shading displayed incorrectly for one user, but their resolution was not reported; if anyone else
   gets this bug (defined by seeing dark lines in the water) sends us your monitor and computer specs / resolution
        played at

Save feature:
   -To be integrated soon

Boss:
   -Final boss completes her last initiated move before kindly dying when her health reaches 0

So we are getting some solid feedback so far!

Most folks seem to be having a good time with the demo, although a recurring point is that the combat rooms are bit harsh, and some small aspects of the combat (like hitboxes, stun times, speeds) could be tweaked a bit to give a more satisfying combat experience, so that is going to be one of our big focuses (along with bug fixes) going into the second release of the beta shortly!

Keep the feedback coming, it is helping speed up our process substantially!

Keep the error reports rolling in!

[Still time to sign up for the Demo's Closed Beta Opt-in!]

Still time to sign up for the Demo's Closed Beta Opt-in!

Hmm... This seems like a log worth contributing to.

https://youtu.be/xbFfz13gch4?t=42

[Ok Sent the Demo Beta off to the opt ins! We will get it out to the first landing page subscribers shortly!]

Ok Sent the Demo Beta off to the opt ins! We will get it out to the first landing page subscribers shortly!

If you would like to opt in to receiving it early though, for the purpose of getting us constructive feedback, you may still opt in, by sending us an email at:

[email protected]

Another shot from the demo highlight reel, hehe:

Here is the full scene from the plate the other day:

The home interiors are actually going to play an interesting role in the game experience, which is why we are putting extra emphasis on the details there. They will be the sites where the players can go to trade items with the NPC villagers, and in some cases further minor storylines.

I'd like to join!

Sure absolutely! Just send us a message or an email with an email for you!

[We are still accepting beta testing opt-ins for this week!]

We are still accepting beta testing opt-ins for this week!

Now that the first couple round of small closed testing are through, we are moving onto Beta this week. If you would like to participate on this level of testing, feel free to message us or email for an opt-in!


[email protected]